Archive for the ‘OSSA’ tag

We received word form Nancy Gates at the AACA Museum that a new motorcycle exhibit will come to the museum next month. “Dusty Jewels: Off-Road Motorcycles of the 1970s” will be on display from April 3 to October 25th and will feature some of those classic dirt bike names from our childhoods such as Yankee, CZ, Ossa, Rickman and Sprite. Many of the design innovations incorporated into these Seventies knockarounds led to the technology of today’s off-road motorcycle. They also taught many a rider exactly what they could and could not do on two wheels. My butt hurts just from looking at some of the photos.

Admission to the museum is $10 for adults, $7 for children and free for national AACA members. The motorcycle exhibit will join the Museum of Bus Transportation exhibit currently housed on the museum’s lower level as well as the restored Valentine Diner. For more information, visit AACAMuseum.org.

The Spanish motorcycle manufacturer OSSA was a motocross-building powerhouse in the 1960s, but like many manufacturers, fell on hard times when Japanese manufacturers flooded the market. Word is that OSSA is back in business, with a new factory and a new bike under its belt. Based again in Spain (though this time in Girona), the bike builder is currently back to its roots with a small displacement machine built specifically for observed trials. Off-road only, the TR280i is currently available in North America through OSSA Canada.

The best part about the motorcycling hobby is that it offers riders the
opportunity to compete at the most grass-roots level. While you might be
able to race your Miata around a parking lot in SCCA SOLO II competition,
just about any other kind of competition outside of drag racing is a costly affair. Motorcycling offers competition opportunities with a much more egalitarian entry fee.
Case in point: Trials competition. The point of observed motorcycle trials
is to wind your way through a tight, rock- and root-strewn dirt course,
around trees and other obstacles, without putting your feet down (or
“dabbing,” in trials lingo). Unlike most competition, speed isn’t
necessarily a factor. Skill and finesse are. It’s like the bizarre offspring
of GNCC motocross and figure skating.
Obscure manufacturers such as Gas Gas and Beta built trials-specific bikes
for this kind of competition. But years ago, the big names were OSSA,
Bultaco, Arial, BSA and Triumph. The American Historic Motorcycle Racing
Association (AHRMA) sanctions Observed Trials competitions all over the
country. There are still several competitions on the schedule for 2005,
including events at Frank Raines Park in Patterson, California, on October
22, and at Aonia Pass in Washington, Georgia, on November 20. If you have a
chance to see either of these events, don’t miss them. AHRMA’s schedule for
2005 is on the web at http://www.ahrma.org/calendar.htm#trial

(This post originally appeared in the October 6, 2005, issue of the Hemmings eWeekly Newsletter.)